The present invention relates to protective packages and, more particularly, protective packages which provide the contents thereof with protection from damage caused by static electricity or electromagnetic radiation such as those used to transport electronic components.
Protective packages, particularly those used for transporting electronic components while shielding the components from such potentially damaging environmental factors as static electricity, electromagnetic radiation or electric fields, are often formed from a single sheet of a laminated material which is folded over upon itself and heat sealed along its edges. An example of such a protective package is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,958 issued to McNulty et al.
When transporting a protective package, it is often desirable to transport supporting documents or materials along with the primary contents of the package. For this purpose, protective packages sometimes include an outer pouch. These outer pouches are typically formed by sealing an additional sheet of material to the side of a finished protective package. This necessitates an additional step in the overall package-making process which has to be performed either by hand or by using additional machinery.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a protective package having at least one outer pouch for containing supporting documentation or materials which can be constructed without the additional step of sealing a sheet of material to the side of the finished package.